St. Landry democrat., 1887-11-26
THE GOVERNORS RECORD AS A
BULLDOZER.
n. Q. P~icayHnc.

7 7 " . ~ V@T T'F
sis the necessity of maintaining a white
mans government in Louisiana, and
claimed that such Il contamination could
not have been attained In tins State but
for the vigorous and aggressive po1lcy
pursued by himself and associates i'll
1876.
If the Governor had comtcntcd him
self with the statement Ut these general
propositions, he would not have sub
ircted himself to serious criticism. But
for the purposes of the occasion, he
rnuncinttd OF clcall " suggested, Scyc-
raj other propositions Of so grave and
compromising a character thai they
could not be allowed to stand without
protest or objection. lie cannot have Il
m~orHthOroUEh aVcrslon.to negro domino
ton than We have, nor can he be more
completely convinced of the necessity
for the political supremacy of the white
race. We understand perfectly well that
of 1876, and that the State is largely in
debtcd to the white men Of North Lou
iSiana for the ultimate success Of the
struggle begun in that year. SO far We
agree with Governor McEncry but We
object to this statement Of the meth
ODDS by which the desired result was
achieved, and to his suggestion that the
return Of Governor Nichols to the gov
crn0rShip would impcrll that result.
On the day following that Of Cover
nor McEnery'S Monroe speech we called
attention to the fact that he had public-
" declared that the supremacy of the
white race had been achieved by the viola
ton of the civil rights guaranteed to the
blacks by the Constitution of the United
States and by the constitution of this
State. 1t was not III Intention at the
time to raise any question as to the his
| t0rical accuracy OF that portion OF the
Governors speech, but only 10 depre-
cate its pubIlc nttelAnce lis unnece>sa-
" and obviously lmp0lltIc. 1t seemed
to Us that in his anxiety to make Il point
against General Nichols lie forgot
what was due to the interest Of that
! Democratic party which is now, as it
had been through so long Il period of
0ur history, the huIWark of States rights
and Southern civilization. We are glad
to know that We have not miSStatcd the
. position assumed by the Governor.
His Individual supporters and organs
! have taken the same view of II, and
have iudOrStd it warmly. He is now
( before the people OF this State asking
for a third term, on the ground that he
! has been Il "~buildOItr III the past, and
| that it would br unsafe to eject any
! man to the Eo~NcInOI>hlp OF Louisiana
who is not committed to the policy of
| thc violent suppression of negro SHtfagc.
1t is proper, therefore, to inquire what
his record has been as a "~hulldOZer,"
aud to aStcrtain how much further he
has gone III that capacity than General
Nichols, oranE other white Democrat
in this State, has gone, or would be will
Ing to 90.
For this purpose We will quote the
exact words used 10y McEnery when
tcstifvIng, under oath, before a sub
committee OF the United States Senate,
in December, 1916. During his eXami-
nation he WAS i~utcrrOgatcd by Senator
Salisbury as follows: MIR. McEnery,
| desire to call your attention to II
OF two matters. There has been Il good
deal Of STRESS laid on the formation of
rifle clubs. | desire to inquire of you
whether there has eve been in the par
l~h of Ouachlta any interference by
those rifle clubs with Il persons fur
Their than simply IN an effort to preserve
the peace and to prevent harm to per
SOUS and property ?" Governor Nc
Emery replied, THAT is all, sir. | know
of no other employment Of those rifle
companies" Mr.. Salisbury then asked,
Has there been any purpose in the
formation of those clubs to interfere
with the political right of any class of
the citizens of Ouachita parish ?" And
Governor McEnery replied, There has
net been"
During the same examination Cover
nor McEncry Is. d. having testified in
relation to Joint meetings or the blacks
and whites 10 the campaign of 1876, Sen
ator Salisbury asked, "Nbat was the
line of argument pursued by the speak
erS at those meetings 7" And the an-
swer was, 1--WE started out with the
as the color line We made an appeal
to the coiored people to break up this
color line" \ little later he was
asked by this same Senator. Did or
did not large numbers of the colored
people of that parish vote on the day of
election-the 9TH of NOvember-the
Democratic ticket p He replied, "They
did, sir" The Senator continued, Did
they vote that ticket freely and volun-
tarlly, and without cOmpulsiOn or in
timidation p And McEncry replied,
"They did, sir, without COmpulsiOn or
intimidation, They were told by Cap
tain Farmer, Mr.. Stubs, myself, Col.
Robert Richardson, and, in fact, every
speaker Of prominence, that they need
have no apprehension tina every man
would be protected in voting the ticket
of his choice that it a a wanted to
vote the Republican ticket, he could do
so freely and fearlessly ; and we made
it a point to state that at u meetings.n
The examination continued as follows:
G. during the canvass, then, | un-
derstand you to say that you made it a
point to announce publicly at your
meetings that every mar should be
protected in voting voluntarily the tick
ct of his choice ?" A. Yes" o.
'Whetherit be Democratic or Republi-
can p A. yes, sir; we made that |
not only III the parish of
Ouachita, but at a speech that | deliv-
cred in Bastrop, on the21st of October,
| took pains to make the same declara-
ton"
1t appears then, that Governor Nc
Emery was not much of a "bulldozer'
after all that be invited the negroes
to vote as they pleased, and promised to
protect them in the free exercise of the
right of suffrage. 1t will be remem-
that in his Monroe speech he de-
that the fight in Ouacllita had
made on the color linen with
great success, whereas in Natchitoches
| different policy enabled the Republic
ans to poll their full strength. But,
according to his sworn testimony before
he Senate committee, he opposed the